Hammerdin Questions

First question; What kind of gear would be the best gear for your merc to stay alive with a hammerdin? Im thinking about using an Insight for the aura, so what kind of armor would be the best, or a good choice? Also, is eth andys the best way to go for helm?

Second, to reach the fastest cast rate break point with a paladin, you would need 125% cast rate right? So just to make sure, using a 35fcr spirit, hoto, anarchids, mage fists, and some sort of 10fcr ring would get you the fastest cast rate for your paladin?

Third, would putting one point each into cold, fire, and light res be a good idea? Would it rais the max res?

First question; What kind of gear would be the best gear for your merc to stay alive with a hammerdin? Im thinking about using an Insight for the aura, so what kind of armor would be the best, or a good choice? Also, is eth andys the best way to go for helm?

Second, to reach the fastest cast rate break point with a paladin, you would need 125% cast rate right? So just to make sure, using a 35fcr spirit, hoto, anarchids, mage fists, and some sort of 10fcr ring would get you the fastest cast rate for your paladin?

Third, would putting one point each into cold, fire, and light res be a good idea? Would it rais the max res?

Thanks, any help would be appriciated.

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The best armour for merc would imo be fortitude (high def, resists, huge ED bonus.... ). umed shaftstop ( preferably uped ) would also be good, basically anithing with high defense and other mods like resists, dmg reduction etc. would do. For helm the choice is between gaze and andariel visage i think, life leech is a must have mod.

Yes 125% is the last BP, and you will achieve it with the items you listed.

Points in the res auras would be a waste imo, 75 res all is all you really need.
Also dont forget to put 1 point in redemption, no need for potions then.

1. Eth Andy is probably the best helm for act 2 merc. Other good choices are Crown of Thieves, Vampire Gaze ... Since Insight don't have LL, also good armors rarely have LL, you want as much LL as you can get from your merc's helm.
Armor. Depends what you can afford. Duriel's Shell, Shaftstop, Smoke (cheap nice resistances), Fortitude... There are also lots of other choices.

I thought I'd just weigh in on the resistances question.
In order to increase the resistances, hard points must be placed in them. Plus skills items will not have the effect of raising your passive to max resistances. That said, in order to increase each resistance by just 5, you would have to place 10 hard points into each resistance (that's 30 total hard skill points). If you absolutely needed to have higher than 75 resistances you could get plus to max items like t-gods, infernostrides, etc. however, these would mess up your planned gear and affect other build requirements like FCR and MF.

1) i think hammerdins already do enough dmg so i try my merc with a low dmg weapon / armor which means i exlude fort for armor. i generally like to use a insight scythe, eth up'd shaft or eth glitch'd stone for armor and have a eth gaze for helm. insight ppl only use for the aura anyhow.

2) there are 2 or few ways of reaching 125fcr. one way would be what u have listed. another would be:

I like Gorash's #2 option. I actually use a HoZ with my HOTO and hammer at the second fastest cast rate. I have a Spirit and Wizard Spike on switch which I use to achieve the fastest cast rate for teleporting. That way I can have the best of both worlds.